Graduate Student Workshop

In March, Dumbarton Oaks hosted its third annual graduate student workshop in medieval studies. Doctoral students Henry Gruber, Polina Ivanova, Stephanie Leitzel, John Mulhall, and Jake Ransohoff traveled to Washington, D.C., on March 3 for a two-day visit.

The graduate student workshop arose from the class visits program, which allows Dumbarton Oaks to sponsor classes of Harvard students to travel to Washington from Boston so they can see the inner workings of the institution.

Upon their arrival, this year’s participants had a chance to visit the Power and Pathos exhibition at the National Gallery of Art and to attend the program lecture by Anthony Kaldellis on the use of classical bronzes in Constantinople. On the second day of the program, they received introductions to Dumbarton Oaks’ history as well as the museum and library. Then, they presented papers to a special session of the Harvard Medieval History workshop. “The comments we got were great, and the opportunity to engage with such a diverse group of Byzantinists was one I will not soon forget,” said participant Henry Gruber. Finally, students met with Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library and publications staff to learn more about opportunities for graduate students to work on the DOML series as well as online publication projects.

“The goal [of the workshop] is to allow grad students in related fields to get together outside of their normal departmental homes to engage as intellectual peers and also to gain access to the facilities and people at Dumbarton Oaks,” said Director Jan Ziolkowski.